Choose General Trade Over Quick Commerce To Build Business: Veeba's Viraj Bahl

Amid the rapid growth seen in the quick commerce sector in the country, Veeba founder and MD Viraj Bahl said that general trade (GT) is the most important channel for founders looking to build a profitable FMCG brand.

“GT is where you earn money. GT is where a brand is built,” Bahl said at Inc42’s ‘The D2C & Retail Summit’. He was speaking at a fireside session with Huddle Ventures founding partner Ishaan Khosla.

While D2C and retail brands across sectors are chasing fast growth via quick commerce platforms like Blinkit, Zepto, and Instamart, Bahl’s thesis flips the narrative. Despite Veeba leading in multiple categories across online platforms, he made it unequivocally clear that GT – the network of kirana stores – brings the highest amount of revenue for brands.

“Today, if you look at our revenue mix, around 70% of our revenue comes from GT. We love quick commerce. We serve them like crazy. But GT is where the real India shops, and GT is where real money is made,” Bahl said.

Veeba gets around 8% of its B2C revenue from quick commerce platforms, while about 20% comes from modern trade.

Bahl also highlighted that quick commerce eats through a brand’s margin, something that many D2C brands have been highlighting recently. He emphasised that quick commerce can help build INR 100 Cr to INR 150 Cr brand. However, to go beyond that and turn profitable, founders must embrace the grind of distribution-led growth in GT.

“GT is painful. But once you start earning money there, it’s the most beautiful place to be in the country. Unlike online, GT doesn’t just give you orders, it builds your brand across India.”

Giving an example, he said the price of Veeba’s largest SKU is just INR 34, which he says is only possible due to GT.

Founded in 2013 by Bahl, Veeba initially started as a B2B business delivering sauces to food chains. Later, it expanded its product line to include mayonnaise, dressings, dips, ketchup, and more while moving towards a distribution channel and selling directly to consumers. Most recently, the company launched Wok Tok, an Indian Chinese brand selling sauces, pastes and instant noodles.

In FY24, Veeba reported a revenue of INR 885 Cr on a net profit of INR 28.8 Cr. It is yet to file its financial numbers for FY25.

Talking about GT, Bahl advised founders to take a measured approach towards it at the beginning as it is an expensive channel because it needs feet on the ground. “Take a cluster. If you’re based in West India, make a West India cluster. If you’re based in North India, take a North India cluster. And that cluster needs to be a sample set of India,” said Bahl.

He said that a cluster should be a combination of metro cities along with tier I, II & III cities in the particular region, so that it actually represents India.

Bahl also challenged founders’ obsession with “category creation”. Instead, he advocated for category premiumisation and personalisation, moves that play better with GT’s mass audiences and reduce the burn associated with carving new consumer habits.

“Category creation is expensive… Founders often assume India needs something just because their friends abroad use it. But India is doing just fine without it,” the founder said.

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